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ADDRESS 



OF THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES 



AT 



YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA 

October 19, 1921, at 10 a. m. 




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WASHINGTON 
1921 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

DECEIVED 

eOet^MKNTfe JiV.ilON 

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"^ REMARKS AT YORKTOWN, OCTOBER 19, 1921. 



Fei^low Americans: The name of o]d Yorkto\Yn has ever held for 
Americans a sif^nificance unlike that of any other name in our annals. 
On this historic peninsula were conducted major opei-ations in our 
strujrclc for independence and our war for national unity. A few 
miles away, across the river, was made at Jamestown the first per- 
. manent settlement of oui' race on this continent, while your historic 
Yorktown itself was one of the very earliest settlements. 

Here, an hundred and forty years ago to-daj', Washington accepted 
the surrender which meant at last the freedom of the colonies, the 
establishment of national independence, the assurance of this great 
experiment in popular govei-nment which we have since conducted. 
Here cams the victory which answered the colonial aspirations, but 
whi( h left, them spent and confused in the chaos of their triumph. 
Here came the great turning point in history, old world iuid new, 
which first revealed that freedom needed the agencies for its preser- 
vation. The marvel is not that tlie war had succeeded; the stu- 
pendous thing is that out of varying conditions, conflicting ideas, 
and threatening jealousies the victors were able to unite in lajdng 
the foundations on which we continue to build with full confidence 
to-day. Surely a God-given destiny must have inspired and an 
Infinite hand assisted in directing. 

It is easy to become enthralled, in- a retrospective and reverent 
reverie. One may recall the bitter years of revolutionarj^ struggle, 
with varying hopes and fears and the incalculable sacrifices involved, 
and yet with that unconquerable resolution which must remain the 
priceless heritage of the republic. It is difficult to compare the glow 
of triumph, but in the retrospective view we may bring ourselves to 
a new sense of realization and appreciation, and we maj' and do 
ai)praise the exalted patriotism, the unfaltering leadership, the un- 
limited devotion, and the unfailing courage which made Washing- 
ton truly the Father of his country. More, we get a new and more 
grateful estimate of all the heroes who suffered and sacrificed in the 

71820—21 (3) 



immortal struj^gle. and we have a new reverence for the lofty states- 
manshijj which began the temple of an abiding republic. 

It is good to dwell in the atmosphere of historic Yorktown and to 
recall the lessons of the immoital Washington, because our own feel- 
ings of devotion are thereby emphasized. We would not wish ours 
to be other than a forwarddooking republic, but we will fail in com- 
ing to the supreme fulfillment if we do not recall the beginning, and 
the unalterable foundation on which we have builded. 

Washington's straggling and decrepit army of a well-nigli ex- 
hausted cause, had been operating before Xew York, hundreds of 
miles away. The enemy, controlling the seas, had undertaken a 
campaign here in tlie Old Dominion, to separate \<>rth from Soutli, 
to reconquer Virginia, and to break the back of the Confederation. 
But there was never a chance to separate Virginia from the cause 
of freedom. Washington knew it, and with tlie unerring eye of his 
calm genius, saw his opportunity to end the long struggle. His 
campaign of Yorktown testified a military talent not second to any 
which history has recorded. Almost before the enemy suspected 
his plan, Washington had achieved the seemingly impossible feat of 
transferring liis army four hundred miles to this peninsula; had 
invested Yorktown, and consolidated here the forces of the colonies 
Nortli and South, and of their great ally, France, both on land 
and sea. So rapid was the operation that almost before the enemy 
force had sensed its danger the French and American troops had 
stormed the outer works of Yorktown and forced a situation which 
left only surrender to the British. 

One seeks in vain for a laarallel to this campaign, and the impor- 
tance of the victory to the contending colonies long since has been 
surpassed by its importance to the world, because its paean of victory 
was the morning song at the dawn of a new era in freedom, made 
secure in popular government. 

We must not claim for the New World, certainlv not for our colo- 
nies alone, all the liberal thought of a century and a half ago. There 
were liberal views and attending sympathy in England and a pas- 
sionate devotion to more liberal tendencies in France. The triumph 
of freedom in the American colonies greatly strengthened liV)eral 
views in the Old World. Inevitably this liberal public opinion, delil)- 
erate and grown dominant, brought Great Britain and America to a 



]>()licv of iucuiumodatioii and pacific adjustment for all our ditler- 
em-es. There has been honorable and unbroken peace for more than 
a century, we came to connnon sacrifice and ensanguined association 
in the AVorld War, and a future breach of our peaceful and friendly 
relations is unthinkable. In the trusteeship of preserving civiliza- 
tion we were naturally arrayed together, and the convictions of a 
civilization worthy of that costly preservation will exalt peace and 
A> arn against conflict for all time to come. 

Our thoughts luivc lately been concerned with those events which 
niatlc history on the scale of a world, rather than of a continent. 
Yet tlie lesson is the same. It is the lesson of real interdependence 
among the nations which lead civilization. 

In our great crisis, nearly a century and half ago, France came to 
our aid and made our independence possible. In her supremely 
anxious liour we gladly went to her support and did our part to secure 
lier lil)erty. A grateful Republic fulfilled an obligation which the 
jiassing generations had not dulled. 

Reflecting to-day on the inevitableness of our participation, on our 
ties of kinship, friendship, and fellowship, and appraising anew the 
way the world — God's good world^ — must share the aspirations to 
realize the noblest ideals for mankind, there is a fresh hungering for 
understanding, a new call for cooperation, a clear conviction of pur- 
poses and devotions and loyalties not limited to sovei'eignties nor 
national boundaries. As the fortunate, successful citizen is both in- 
spiration and example to the community of his growth, so must the 
fortunate and successful nations help the world to the higher and 
nobler levels of accomplishment. Here at Yorktown was sealed the 
charter of the new and free America, biit in the charter was written 
the rational liberalism of the maturing eighteenth century crying out 
from both continents. 

Shall maidtind, then, go on yet for generations, for centuries, 
knowing but refusing to be guided by these truths? Not if con- 
science and reason are properly asserted. I believe the tinae is come 
when there must l)e recognition of essential cooperation among na- 
tions, devoted, each of them in its own peculiar national waj-, to the 
common good, the progress, the advance of all himian kind. Let us 
hope that we stand at the dawn of a new day, in which nations shall 
be stronger for contribution to the world's betterment, because each 



will feel the assurance of coniinon pui'iiose and united aspiiution, and 
the security of a common devotion to the ends of peace and civili- 
zation. 

One need not picture a world -sovereignty, ruling over all the 
varj'ing races, traditions, and national cultures, because it will never 
be. That would mean a social, institutional, and intellectual stand- 
ardization, utterly inharmonious with the plan that filled the world 
with differing peoples, civilizations, and purposes. Xo • program 
which seeks to submerge nationality will succeed. This Republic will 
never surrender so priceless a heritage, will never destroy the soul 
which impelled our gratifying attainments. In the sober circum- 
spection, retrospection and introspection of these crucial times we 
do believe there is sanity and urgent need in bringing the best thought 
of all great 2)eoples into understanding and cooperative endeavor 
which shuns the alliances in arms and strengthens the concords of 
peace, so that each may realize its rightful destiny and contribute 
its utmost to human advancement and attending human happiness. 
The heroes of the revolution little Icnew, the fonmling fathers 
little realized, Washington himself little dreamed the tremendous 
significance of the beginning which was wrought aniiil (heir hei'oic 
sacrifices. But if we could summons their spirits this morning T 
am sure they would rejoicingly marvel at the Republic we have 
buiided. They would sanction, as do we of Virginia and Ohio, and 
as do all the States with shining stars in the field of bine, tlie rivete<l 
reunion where disunion threatened, and they would acclaim with us 
the nationality^ which has made the victory at Yorktown a surpassing 
expression of human progress. They would have us cling to inde- 
pendence, regnant with constitutional government at home, mindful 
of interdependence, and unafraid before the world. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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